A wide variety of industrial and mechanical apparati require lubrication of their moving parts to prevent premature wear and failure of the equipment. Natural lubricants, such as animal and vegetable fats, oils, and greases have been known for millennia. However, as the industrial age arrived, these were found not to be suitable in the high temperature, high pressure conditions experienced in the machinery being developed. Petroleum-based lubricants have been known for over a century and have been developed for many such applications. However, the cost of locating, extracting, and refining crude oil to manufacture these lubricants, as well as limitations on their performance and durability, led to the development in this century of synthetic lubricants.
Synthetic lubricants have been developed to meet a variety of needs and have in the last twenty years gained in both their technical performance and their popularity. However, most synthetic lubricants include ingredients that are not suitable for certain applications, e.g., for use in food processing and preparation. It is highly desirable to have a cost-effective, high-performance lubricant that is approved for such uses by the United States Department of Agriculture.
In addition, process conditions play a significant role in determining both the performance and commercial acceptance of a synthetic lubricant. If the heating conditions during preparation of the lubricant are not optimal, e.g., if the lubricant is heated too much or too little or at the wrong point in the process, the lubricant can have an undesirable color or smell. One popular ingredient, Irgalube, can impart a sweet smell that is not always desirable. However, omitting this ingredient to eliminate the odor can alter the performance characteristics of the lubricant. In addition, replacement with DuPont's Teflon.RTM. may result in a lubricant that has an uneven consistency. Replacement with Krylon.RTM. (liquid Teflon.RTM. in an isopropyl base) may resolve the consistency problems, but the isopropyl doesn't react well at high temperatures.